INDEPENDENT CATERING COMPANY LAUNCHES APPRENTICESHIP ACADEMY

The hospitality sector created half a million new jobs over the last decade and has the potential to create hundreds of thousands more over the next, according to trade body UK Hospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls.

Rising to the challenge of training the next generation, Reading-based catering company CH&CO launched a new apprenticeship academy during National Apprenticeship Week.

The academy includes a chefs academy, service academy, business academy and a leadership academy.

A new online CH&CO “Grow With Us” Apprenticeship Academy prospectus has been launched across the business, which operates in more than 1,000 sites and employs more than 10,000 people, to inspire team members to join the academy or offer an apprenticeship in their part of the business.

Terry Waldron, Chief Operating Office at CH&CO, said: “People are at the heart of hospitality and we want our people to feel valued. Our focus on developing and supporting them never stops – they are our greatest asset; from the chefs and on-site teams serving our customers to our people working in the offices supporting our operations and clients.”

Financing firm celebrates first decade with strong results

Financing firm Pulse Cashflow increased its number of finance facilities to SMEs by almost a quarter in its latest financial year as it prepares to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

The Basingstoke-based firm saw a 24 per cent increase in the number of finance facilities offered to UK SMEs as its client portfolio grew to 40,000 businesses.

Client turnover peaked at £200 million while profitability grew by 34 per cent – the result of an ambitious growth drive which saw the company targeting higher value clients.

“In what is a relatively flat market, we are delighted with our performance,” said Managing Director Toni Dare. “We have had a really strong year and we continue to see an increasing number of UK businesses looking to access flexible funding solutions.”

Change of ownership at design agency “not a management buy out”

Strategic design agency fst has undergone a change of management – which bosses are insisting is not a management buyout.

The Marlow-based company has a roster of clients including Canon and the England & Wales Cricket Board.

The founding partners were reluctant to sell the business to a larger competitor and see the firm’s identity disappear. So it recently unveiled its “legacy deal” which sees three new partners appointed from within the business to lead the firm.

Design director Charlie Butterfield, strategy director Alex Cleveland, and client service director Andrew Brennan have been in the business for the past seven years.

The value of the business will be repaid to the founders over time. Founder Otto Marples, said: “Charlie, Alex and

Andrew know the ‘fst way’ and, more importantly, they can take fst forward for another 25 years.

“For many people, this deal will be seen as an MBO because people need to categorise it. For me, this is not an MBO. Did the new partners buy out the founding partners? No. I believe this should be called a legacy deal as it is about passing the business on to the next generation.”

SWINDON DESIGN AGENCY ADDS TO ITS COLLECTION OF RAILWAY-INSPIRED ‘HIDDEN GEMS’ POSTERS

A Swindon-based creative agency has expanded its evocative collection of posters celebrating its hometown.

The prints – reminiscent of the posters designed by railway companies in the 1930s to promote holiday destinations – are the brainchild of Nathan Sandhu, founder and creative director of Jazzbones in Swindon’s Old Town.

Three years ago Nathan created a set of six posters featuring Swindon landmarks Coate Water Country Park, the David Murray John Building, the Renault Building, Lydiard Park House and Grounds, The Locarno and The Oasis Leisure Centre.

Now four more scenes have been added to the ‘hidden gems’ collection: Liddington Hill, Old Town Gardens, Peatmoor Lake, and Silbury Hill.

Liddington Hill, which overlooks the town, is the site of an iron age fort and was a haunt of one of Swindon’s favourite sons, the nature writer Richard Jefferies. The poster shows a modern GWR train speeding towards the town from London, with Liddington Hill in the background.

Old Town Gardens is an oasis created in the late 1800s as the railway town grew. A Grade II listed cast-iron octagonal bandstand with square clock tower forms the focal point of the gardens, and also the poster.

Peatmoor Lake is another oasis, around which 20th century housing estates and business parks sprang up. The lake is overlooked by a Chinese restaurant built in a pagoda style. The pagoda and its reflection in the water, with the setting sun behind, are captured in the poster.

IT consultancy Invenio Business Solutions, which has just been named in the Sunday Times International Track 200 as one of Britain’s top mid-market companies with the fastest-growing international sales, has announced a partnership with Deep-Insight, an organisation which assesses relationship quality and runs customer experience programmes.

The programme will enable Reading-based Invenio to better understand customer needs, address concerns, and help enhance relationships and customer experience.

Deep-Insight’s in-depth assessment will identify gaps in Invenio’s customer experience offering and help build lasting customer relationships with personalised plans across each account.

Invenio CEO Arun Bala said: “My focus has been and will continue to be on delivering success for Invenio’s customers while driving transparency and value through all customer engagements.”

Buckinghamshire Business First joins forces with EU partners

Buckinghamshire Business First has joined forces with nine countries in the EU to work jointly on a new initiative called Inno Industry, which seeks to better understand if and how current regional and national strategies are helping businesses to become more digitalised.

The project’s aim is to increase the number of business clusters that are supporting the transition to “Industry 4.0” (the trend towards automation and data exchange in manufacturing) and to create best practice to support businesses in clusters to take up new digital technologies, such as big data and artificial intelligence.

Heather Dean, Head of Skills and Business support at Buckinghamshire Business First, said: “In Buckinghamshire we have strong business clusters, including high performance engineering, assistive technologies and the creative industries clustering around Pinewood

Studios, which could benefit greatly from this initiative.”

The project partners aim to improve local, regional and national policies in order to increase the rate of clusters that develop activities to support digital transformation.

Inno Industry is funded by Interreg Europe, a programme funded by the European Regional Development Fund.